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Le combinazioni lessicali sono centrali nell’apprendimento linguistico perché possono essere elaborate velocemente (Siyanova-Chanturia, 2015) e il loro uso contribuisce a dare l’idea di fluenza in produzione (Nattinger & DeCarrico, 1992). Tuttavia, l'acquisizione della competenza fraseologica in L2 è fonte di difficoltà per gli apprendenti. Nei sillabi per l’insegnamento della lingua italiana, inoltre, il lessico è generalmente presentato sotto forma di elenco di singole parole e la dimensione fraseologica risulta assente. Sarebbe quindi utile sviluppare un sillabo che tenga conto di questa dimensione. Come afferma Luoni (2016), nel sillabo gli item linguistici devono essere organizzati considerando la complessità dei processi comunicativi e dei processi di apprendimento e di acquisizione. Il sillabo fraseologico dovrebbe, pertanto, integrare funzioni comunicative e misure di complessità fraseologica. In questo contributo, presentiamo una riflessione teorico-metodologica che rappresenta la necessaria premessa per lo sviluppo di un sillabo fraseologico che tenga conto di misure di complessità fraseologica, definite tramite metodologie computazionali e psicolinguistiche, e di funzioni comunicative e argomenti caratteristici di ciascun livello di competenza. TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PHRASEOLOGICAL SYLLABUS FOR LEARNING ITALIAN L2: SOME THEORETICAL-METHODOLOGICAL PREMISES Lexical combinations are central to language learning because they can be processed quickly (Siyanova-Chanturia, 2015) and their use gives the idea of fluency in production (Nattinger & DeCarrico, 1992). However, the acquisition of L2 phraseological competence is difficult for learners. Furthermore in Italian L2 syllabuses, vocabulary is often presented as a list of words and the phraseological dimension is usually absent. To fill this gap, a phraseological syllabus should be designed. As stated by Luoni (2016), linguistic items in the syllabus should be organized taking into account the complexity of the communication processes and the complexity of the learning and acquisition processes. Thus, the phraseological syllabus should integrate communicative functions and measures of phraseological complexity. In this article, we discuss the theoretical and methodological premises for the development of a phraseological syllabus that takes into account measures of phraseological complexity that are defined through computational and psycholinguistic methodologies and the communicative functions and topics that characterize each proficiency level.

Collocations are one of the most studied types of word combinations. Their intricate nature, based on varying degrees of restriction, begs the question as to how modifications in their typical form influence the way they are processed by native speakers and learners. In this study, an eye-tracking experiment was carried out. We compared native speakers and learners of Italian when processing typical (i.e., common) and atypical (i.e., uncommon) collocations of Italian. Atypical collocations were developed by manipulating the grammatical and lexical components of a set of typical collocations. We also investigated how the online processing was affected by the different modifications (i.e., lexical and grammatical) performed and proficiency levels included. Both kinds of modifications disrupt collocation processing, with lexical modification being generally more salient than grammatical modification in terms of processing costs. Further, proficiency level influences phraseological processing, with varying effects related to the different kinds of modifications. The findings of our study are largely in line with previous research, while providing new insights into how lexis and grammar affect phraseological processing. They contribute to the evidence on languages other than English, a still under-researched domain in second language acquisition as a whole.